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Travel the path of the canal in this
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Cuyahoga Valley National Park |
Lock 29 Trailhead
Location: The Lock 29 Trailhead in Peninsula is located on West
Mill Street. It is accessible to motorists traveling on the CanalWay
Ohio National Scenic Byway by turning east onto State Route 303 off of
Riverview Road, then north on Locust Street and west on West Mill
Street. It is just north of Mile Marker 24 on the Towpath Trail.
History: The village of Peninsula was laid out by Hermon Bronson
in 1824. It was named "Peninsula" because the Cuyahoga River wrapped
around and nearly enclosed a section of land as the river came within 50
feet of itself, forming a peninsula. This peninsula no longer exists,
but unlike some of the other canal era towns, Peninsula is alive and
well. Construction of the Ohio & Erie Canal was started a year after the
town was founded and brought a booming business to Peninsula - boat
building. Along with Boston to the north and Akron to the south, the
area was the most prodigious of canal boat building centers in Ohio
(picture below).
Peninsula has maintained its historic appeal into the 21st century. Many
of the buildings that were built in the early to mid 1800's still exist
and are in use in the historic downtown district. The town was listed on
the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
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Lock 29 North (Portage Summit Level)
- Peninsula Lock
Peninsula Aqueduct
Lock 29 looking south from the
bridge over the northern end of the lock (left). The Peninsula Aqueduct
was immediately on the other end of the lock next to the towpath bridge
(right).
About the
Lock & Aqueduct: Lock 29 was washed out like the other locks in the
Cuyahoga Valley during the Flood of 1913 that ended the canal era in
Ohio. But with a little imagination, you can picture the canal as it
existed when it was functioning (or you can follow this
link for a vintage photograph). The
colorized map to the left will help with the visualization. As the canal
(dark blue) approached from the north, it entered Lock 29 and was raised
up to the aqueduct level. The towpath (brown line on map) was on the
western side of the canal before the lock but crossed over to the
eastern side on a bridge at the north end of the lock. The canal then
crossed the Cuyahoga River (light blue) on the aqueduct and continued
south under the Main Street (State Route 303) bridge. As far as I can
tell, there was no spillway for the lock as the excess water likely just
ran into the river. There was a feeder just north of here that
resupplied the canal with water from the river. The picture below shows
the Peninsula Aqueduct from the Cuyahoga River.
|
 Today's
lock does not have the gates intact, but you can walk right into the
lock to view the walls from inside. A wayside explains the use of
mason's marks on the sandstone blocks of the lock walls. The towpath
bridge is in place at the northern end of the lock and leads to the
bridge that parallels where the aqueduct crossed the river.
The Thomas and
Moody Mill was originally a gristmill built by Hermon Bronson in the
1830's. Thomas and Moody bought it and turned it into a flour mill until
it burnt to the ground in 1931. It was located at the beginning of the
thin strip of land that led to the "peninsula" that became the town's
namesake.
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| State
of the lock |
Walls
intact |
| Lift
of the lock |
11' |
| GPS
Coordinates |
N41 14.566 W81
33.024 |
| State
of the aqueduct |
Non-existent but the abutments remain |
| GPS
Coordinates |
N41 14.553 W81
33.014 |
|
Accessibility |
Via the
Towpath Trail |
Lock 28
North (Portage Summit Level) - Deep Lock
About the Lock: Lock 28 is
more commonly known as Deep Lock and for good reason - it lifted boats
17 feet, by far the largest rise of any lock on the Ohio and Erie
Canal (according to the wayside there - I have also read that the lift
was only 12' in other sources). The spillway for Lock 28
passed on the western side of the canal while the towpath crossed on
the east after having crossed over the canal at Lock 29 in Peninsula.
Near the lock was the quarry where
many of the sandstones used in the construction of the locks on the
northern section of the Ohio & Erie Canal were cut from. The quarry
became known as Deep Lock Quarry and a Summit County Metropark
highlights the area now, accessible from the Towpath Trail. In 1879,
Ferdinand Schumacher bought part of the quarry and used the sandstone
there to make the large millstones that he used in the operation of
his American Cereal Company, the precursor to Quaker Oats.
| State
of the lock |
Walls
intact and in very good condition |
| Lift
of the lock |
17' |
| GPS
Coordinates |
N41 13.963 W81
33.115 |
|
Accessibility |
Via the
Towpath Trail |
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The Silliman Survey picture of
the canal is courtesy of the
Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of
Water. I colored and labeled it for the explanation above. I
found the historic photo of the Peninsula Aqueduct online
here. |
